WJPA Sports

High school basketball teams look to restore some sense of normalcy with games across the WPIAL get back on schedule. Fort Cherry got 17 points from Gianna Bianchini, including five 3-pointers, as the Rangers blew out Burgettstown, taking a two-game lead with three to play. Waynesburg’s win at McGuffey puts the Raiders along in second place and clinches a playoff spot. Here’s the Washington/Greene section scoreboard for Thursday:

Girls
6A Canon-McMillan at Hempfield
4A Elizabeth-Forward 70, Ringgold 22
3A Wash High at Seton-La Salle, postponed to Feb. 3
3A Waynesburg 54, McGuffey 47
2A-2 Fort Cherry 52, Burgettstown 25, Watch/Listen Here
2A-3 Chartiers-Houston 56, Jeff-Morgan 19
2A-3 California 50, Bentworth 38
2A-3 Beth-Center 45, Carmichaels 32
1A Geibel Catholic 106, Mapletown 19
1A West Greene 37, Bishop Canevin 29
1A Clairton 51, Avella 35

Boys
2A Clairton at California

McGuffey (2A) and Canon-McMillan (3A) swept their WPIAL Team Tournament matches Wednesday night, advancing to Saturday’s semifinals at Peters Township. We’ll have live coverage of both McGuffey and Canon-McMillan matches on WJPA-AM (1450) and online.

2A Preliminaries
Bentworth 46, Keystone Oaks 27

2A First Round
Beth-Center 42, Quaker Valley 36
Jeff-Morgan 48, Avella 28
McGuffey 45, Bentworth 29
Burgettstown 58, Chartiers-Houston 13

2A Quarterfinals
Burrell 51, Beth-Center 19
Laurel 42, Jeff-Morgan 30
McGuffey 51, Burgettstown 24

3A Preliminaries
Peters Township 39, Shaler 34

3A First Round
Franklin Regional 69, Peters Township 0
Canon-McMillan 44, Belle Vernon 25
Trinity 50, West Allegheny 6

3A Quarterfinals
Canon-McMillan 50, North Allegheny 12
Norwin 35, Trinity 31

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Browns hired Todd Monken as the franchise’s 19th full-time head coach, wrapping up a three-week search. He replaces Kevin Stefanski, who was fired on Jan. 5, the day after Cleveland finished a 5-12 season. This is Monken’s first NFL head coaching job after 11 years in the league as an assistant. He spent the previous three seasons as Baltimore’s offensive coordinator. He first interviewed on Jan. 10 and had a second interview on Jan. 20. Monken previously served as the Browns’ offensive coordinator in 2019.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Count New England Patriots team owner Robert Kraft among those shocked that Bill Belichick reportedly will not be selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. In a statement to The Associated Press, Kraft said he believes Belichick’s accomplishments unequivocally merit election to the Hall on his first ballot. Citing unidentified sources, ESPN reported Tuesday that Belichick didn’t receive the necessary 40 votes from the 50-person panel of media members and other Hall of Famers. Tom Brady, who played under Belichick for 20 seasons and won six Super Bowl titles together, called that decision “completely ridiculous.”